Boards

We've got quite a nice one in Kings Lynn:
http://www.thewalks.co.uk/Plenty of open space, a bandstand where they have brass bands on a Sunday afternoon, play equipment for children of all ages, parkour equipment, a cool-as-fuck little chapel on the mount, a little café. I like it.

I spend more time in the Horniman Gardens though which is about a 10 minute walk from my flat and it's AMAZING. Loads of grass, ANIMALS YOU CAN LOOK AT INCLUDING ALPACAS (!!), giant musical instruments, farmers market on Saturday mornings, amazing views of the London skyline. I love it. http://www.horniman.ac.uk/visit/displays/gardens

I stopped off on my bike and watched one over of a game there. Four balls in a row the bowler dobbed a gentle trundler in, four times in a row the batsman heaved it over the bowler's head, and four times in a row the same fielder dropped the catch in the same place right in front of all his mates.

As soon as I saw this thread title I knew pn would try to co-opt Mayow. Horniman obviously too far up a hill for those lazy Forest Hill hipsters. Mayow Park: A Sydenham park, for Sydenhamers. From Sydenham.

Great views over London, good play equipment for big kids and little kids, nice selection of waterfowl on the pond, Nelson Mandela memorial, good cafe, decent if ridiculously middle class community centre, nice history bit on the old telegraph station...

Right where good suburbs border the CBD, with a ludicrously beautiful old building where the country was formed, plenty of space and trees and it's good year round. And you can get away with drinking there in summer and in the arvos, too. Plus it's dripping with great memories of walking home drunk.

Moseley Bog a few yards further down, which was the inspiration for Mordor. Obviously LOTR is a bag of shite, but it's still lovely down there. I'm blessed with loads of stunning and diverse green spaces near where I live actually. Birmingham is easily the best city in the UK I've been to in that respect.

in all its glory - from featuring in Antonioni's movie Blow Up to possessing some really rather startling overgrown areas, a few lofty hills with views across the Thames valley and Gilbert's Pit, a largely fenced-off area of geographical interest (something about sedimentary strata). Birdlife features woodpeckers and chiffchaffs amongst the usual, there's a double tennis-court that's pretty well-maintained and highly popular, a large lawn for football, the friendly dogs of Charlton, a kid's play-area, a basketball court and a level crossing. Plus it's all surprisingly labyrinthine. Awesome park 10/10

and then, as if that wasn't lovely enough, 200 yards up the road is Maryon Wilson Park, which has a fucking CITY FARM/ZOO in it (feat. deer, goats, ponies, pigs, peacocks, guineafowl, Muscovy ducks, geese etc) as well as some streams and a really wild bit called Hangman's Wood where highwaymen used to be hanged

I like it, although it was better when it had a couple of peacocks. plus I still find it weird that it a) had a rollercoaster back in the day and that b) when it crashed it was the worst accident in the history of theme parks, killing five people. obviously that's bad but I would have thought there'd be one worse than that. maybe basing my expectations on rollercoaster tycoon isn't that wise.

Loads of yummy mummies around the café but actually a nice mix of people on the whole. Lido, ponds (with terrapins and good duck selection), good tennis courts, lovely views, deer enclosure, goats, Hasidic Jews, massive 20-a-side games of Somalian lads playing football, jogging track.

Haven't been there in ages, which is stupid because they're really nice. Usually end up in Kelvingrove instead, which is also good for a walk and the way to go to visit friends/the office. Also, Ruchill Park might be my closest and I haven't ever been there.

Makes you feel tiny
Could easily hold a festival on it if anyone of note was there
Small children's park fenced off, and a cricket pitch and pavilion my friends broke into once as underage drinkers
The beach and sea a couple minutes run South
Other joggers and dog walkers. Wind.

little kids playground with big paddling pool they fill in the summer
adventure playground area
skatepark
cricket/tennis/football pitches = load of grass basically
riverside walk and place to feed the ducks/launch your canoes from

is pretty shit. Recently done out with a new slide, swings etc, but it has got grotty really quickly and it is by a main road. There is a "common" nearby and a large estate with woods and rolling fields and wildflowers also, but the closest "proper" park is St Andrews in Bristol:

cafe, trees, paddling pool, ice cream van. It even has vague areas where different people hang out. Kids at the top bit, stoners and students in the sunny bit at the bottom doing balloons. Bookworms, adults in the leafy tree area. People doing poy or tightrope walking a bit further down. Football right at the bottom. Something for everyone. Nice and small and compact and near shops and pubs. Perfect for a carry-out in the sun.

more of a kids play area with grass but its nice. I think it was originally a private park for the people living in tenements around it. Nearest proper park is Victoria park which is pretty cool - pond, basketball courts, bowls and a FOSSIL GROVE.

but after the olympics has had a small skate park bit added, which seems nice. only a few hundred metres past that though is the Olympic park, which is surprisingly amazing - it feels surprisingly wild, with lots of hills and the river lea and wetland. full of families tho so fuck it

which is about two stones' throws away. Home of the Hurlingham Club, who invented Polo, host international croquet tournaments, have a 20-year waiting list for membership, and count Jeffrey Archer and a number of Lords among their current members. Monty Python's Upper Class Twit of the Year sketch was filmed there. I've only actually been there once, and that was to sit on a bench and eat a kebab. Unsurprisingly full of people who look like they're called Robbo or Olly.

About 2.5 stones' throws the other way is Bishop's park. It's alright I suppose, gets a lot of runners along the river, big play area for kids, Fulham palace, still loaded with poshos and made-in-Chelsea types.

Plenty of other parks within walking distance - Wandsworth Park is just over the bridge, which I used to spend a lot of lunchtimes in when I worked in Putney - but tbh if I'm in a park mood I'll generally go to Richmond. Can't beat it.

There's a ceramic pot full of fag ends that had been in our garden. It had got rained in and it smelt really bad so I just chucked it in a patch of tall weeds. It'll go nicely with all the used condoms and empty beer cans that litter the place.